Samuel: God's Leader for Deliverance

Samuel: God’s Leader for Deliverance (1 Samuel 7)

PRAY

Samuel becomes God’s leader for spiritual renewal/revival. - at a time when Israel desperately needs such a leader

Not only do we learn from the leadership pattern of Samuel as one we ought to follow, but we also see again the pattern set by God for providing a deliverer that finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

1 Samuel 7:1–4 ESV

And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the Lord. From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only.

Vv. 1&2 are a reminder of where things have been going for Israel.

- through all the problems from chapters 4-6 (actually 7:2), Samuel is conspicuously absent (for 20 years)

Samuel Emerges & Speaks Up (v. 3)

A note about Samuel’s rise to leadership - Samuel had never done anything to elevate himself to this position. From birth we see it was all God’s doing. For his part, we have a picture of a man who was faithful to God in whatever area was given to his care and who remained focused on the interests of God.

- There always will be a need for leaders who courageously redirect people to God. It isn’t popular to speak up for God, particularly when it inevitably involves calling people to repent of their errors and change their ways.

When Samuel speaks, what does he say?

Samuel Calls for Repentance (vv. 3-4)

Remove all idols

Direct your hearts to the Lord

Serve/worship him only

As Moses before him, Joshua had warned Israel about the religious practices of the people around them:

Joshua 24:14 ESV

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

It’s in this context that we find the famous line of Joshua:

Joshua 24:15 ESV

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

And of course, the people overconfidently declare their allegiance to God:

Joshua 24:16 ESV

Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods,

(and v. 18b) “Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” - But Joshua warned them about their lack of true reliance upon God and what the results of their waywardness would be:

Joshua 24:19–20 ESV

But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.”

Well, that’s at the close of the book of Joshua. Guess what we find happening in the very next historical book in the Bible?

Judges 2:12–14 ESV

And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.

But as is the case with God, hope is never lost. The prophet Joel gives an illustration of this:

Joel 2:12–13 ESV

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

When we repent, God relents.

Repeatedly in the book of Judges when the people wept bitterly about their plight and recognized that the cause was their waywardness from God, God would send them a deliverer to judge and defeat their enemies. But the pattern would continue to repeat itself, and they would need a new deliver.

Here in the book of Samuel we find the same pattern with this final judge. But with Israel’s last and greatest judge, we also find the clearest instruction with regards to said repentance that leads to deliverance:

Again - Put away, take down, remove the objects/people/ideas that you have set up in the place of idolatry in your hearts; Direct, fix, give, commit your hearts to the Lord; Worship and serve him only. - To this final point even Jesus used this inspired word of God here against the devil’s temptation in the wilderness:

Luke 4:5–7 ESV

And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”

How does Jesus respond?

Luke 4:8 ESV

And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”

Our Lord fully comprehends, from first hand experience, our temptation to elevate ourselves and "stuff” to a place of worship and service that such created things and created beings do not deserve!

And like the pattern of Israel, does this happen to us only once, or must we be ever careful to repent of idolatry and return our hearts fully to God and serve him only?

Now granted, there must be a first time… a first time where we recognize how we’ve lifted up sinful pursuits, ourselves, and things in the place of God. A first time where we tear it all down and lay our hearts bare before God, agreeing with him that we have been so wrong and we are desperately in need of him to be our deliverer. A first time then that we have saving faith.

But as people who have not yet reached the end of this perilous journey we call life, we must never cease to be vigilant of our need to confess sin and redirect our hearts to God. We must approach the tendencies of our hearts like the renowned King David of these very books of Scripture:

Psalm 139:23–24 ESV

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

But now we get to continue in our passage to see how Samuel proceeds to ensure God’s help and that God’s people will indeed return to their God:

1 Samuel 7:5–14 ESV

Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah. Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.” So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites.

Samuel Intercedes for the People (vv. 5-14)

This is where Samuel’s true strength lies. - Samuel is a man of prayer. Samuel is a man who calls upon God for direction and for help. Samuel doesn’t take matters into his own hands… Samuel presents matters into the hands of God—completely faithful, always trustworthy, perfectly good, infinitely capable hands of God. - When you look at it through Samuel’s eyes you think, “Why would I do anything else?”

So… ‘Everybody gather at Mizpah and I will pray for you.’

Pouring out water and fasting is a sign of their repentance - of their sincerity toward God in confession of sin and dependence on him, with a special focus on pleading for his mercy and his help.

(The end of v. 6 states that) Samuel judged Isreal there - Shows him officially taking over Eli’s former role (Samuel here becomes both domestic leader and military leader (It’s almost funny to think that without fighting or immediately directing any men in battle, he’s military leader over Israel… by virtue of interceding for them with God! They don’t move unless Samuel says, “OK, God says go… I’m with you in this fight to grant victory.”)

Samuel leads the charge into battle through prayer. Even when he’s “signing off” as their leader (since Saul has become king), Samuel still declares in his farewell address (as their leader… he sticks around for quite some time):

1 Samuel 12:23–24 ESV

Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.

Samuel becomes the last judge before the first king. He is a prophet, priest, and judge of God’s people who remains wholly devoted to and entirely dependent on God.

But in the section just read we also see that the enemy hasn’t learned their lesson - The Philistines think the people, gathering for worship at Mizpah, are gathered there for war. - While others fear, Samuel prays.

Notice too that Samuel never calls for the ark… he simply calls upon God. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with the ark itself, except that the people had elevated it as an idol (a talisman) in their eyes. They now needed reminding that it was the God of the ark whom they both sinned against and to whom they needed to return wholeheartedly.

In this process then Samuel also offers a sacrifice of atonement. - for their sin against God - God had ordained that it would be this way: a sacrifice of blood atonement for sin.

(And then what happens?) God intervenes. He literally thunders (again recall 2:10) against the Philistines to throw them into a fearful confusion, giving the Israelite army the upper hand.

Samuel commemorates the occasion by setting up a reminder that it is God who is our faithful stone of help, the sovereign one who has brought us this far and will continue to be our provider. - It was to serve as a reminder that God could always be trusted to accomplish, to complete his plan for his people.

Simply through Samuel’s submission to God and leading the people accordingly, God gave Israel, during the days of Samuel, victory and peace. (success against the philistines and peace with the Amorites - canaanites from before Israel’s conquest - They suffered heavy defeats from both the days of Moses and especially Joshua, and now those who remained still lived in the hills in the southern mountains of Judea. Later Solomon would defeat them all and those who remained alive were made to serve Israel as slaves.)

But during the days of Samuel, there is peace. Samuel quite literally leads the people by unwaveringly maintaining first allegiance to God. Through that kind of leadership God delivered and blessed his people.

Through that same submission to God, Samuel instructs and maintains order in the land:

1 Samuel 7:15–17 ESV

Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places. Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there, and there also he judged Israel. And he built there an altar to the Lord.

Samuel Judges on a Circuit (vv. 15-17)

map

Arbitrating between people and dispensing God’s law impartially.

Samuel serves the Lord to teach the people and administer justice

- leading consistently and for a prolonged period of time

Conclusion: The pattern of Samuel’s leadership was to himself be fully surrendered and submissive to God. He courageously spoke up for God and called people to repentance. But he certainly didn’t stop with yelling at them. Samuel led the people through the process of repentance and restoration to God, which led to God’s intervention and deliverance. Once God delivered them from the immediate danger, Samuel continued leading over a prolonged period of time to make sure the people didn’t go right back to where they were before. When Israel desperately needed one, God raised up a man with a heart for him to be a deliverer.

Not only is does the text provide a good example of leadership in the life of Samuel, but there is glorious Gospel clarity in the pattern of these verses… - The gospel: God’s grace to offer us deliverance when we repent, because he himself provides the means to atone for sin and be restored to him!

To this point about all of humanity’s need for deliverance from sinful idolatry of the heart is where I want us to turn our final thoughts. Time and time again God displayed the pattern of his faithfulness and grace to deliver those who would repent and put their trust in the one true God and his promises. But that same pattern in the Old Testament reveals their need and ours for a perfect and complete, once-for-all deliverer.

Jesus: God’s Deliverance

Jesus provided once-for-all deliverance.

(for all mankind, for all sin, for all time) - He is the perfect prophet, priest, and king. As such he is the sovereign who will judge the world.

Will today be the day that you repent and turn to God for the first time? Is today the day that you forsake all other gods (self, concepts, people, things that you worship) and put faith in God through his promise that he saves those who trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of the God-man Jesus Christ?

Ongoing Repentance for Deliverance

What is repentance again?

A deep sense of the holiness of God, followed by a corresponding awareness and confession of our sins, and a forsaking of any other object of trust other than God and His provisions – this is the way God leads sinners from irreverence, sin, and judgment to righteousness, forgiveness, peace, and access into the presence of our holy God. - Deffinbaugh

I wonder, if you know you have been delivered from sin and it’s corresponding punishment—eternal death—is that less reason or MORE reason that you should be always desiring to repent of sin and be restored to fellowship with the God who has made you his own?

You see, we still need ongoing deliverance from the grip of sin in our lives, and the only means remains repentance and faith in Jesus. God desires to give us what is best—himself—but if we erect idols and chase after other lusts of the mind and flesh, we’re missing out on the goodness of God.

Let’s be people like Samuel who believe in God’s goodness and wholly depend on him. Who turn from our sin and receive his deliverance, and who walk in a circuit of life that continues to train us in growing ever closer to our God of deliverance.